<p>I am currently going to a university that isn't U Iowa. When I was applying to colleges, my last choice was between the honors program at U Iowa and the honors program at my current school. Unfortunately for me, I fell for the over embellished propaganda that my current school was a great choice, so I ended up accepting. Now, I really want to transfer to U Iowa, I just have some questions about social life and education.</p>
<p>I'm an English major, first and foremost, and it's definitely the most important thing in my search for a good school. I know that Iowa is renowned for the Writer's Workshop, and I just wanted to know if the English department is as great for undergraduates too. So far, I've experienced English classes where we read tons of material, and then come to class only to summarize what we read, rather than analyze it, so I'm definitely interested in English classes that actually dissect the material, and professors who are well versed in their field.</p>
<p>Next, I was wondering about social life. I know that since it's a big school there's a lot of partying, and I'm not completely opposed to that, though it's not a central focus in my social life. Where I am now, most people already have their set cliques, and can be very snobby. I just want to know if there are a lot of nice people who are also passionate about writing and art, or who just like doing things that aren't really conventional. I just want to know whether or not there is a lot of diversity when it comes to personalities and interests, or what the general vibe of the campus is. I've read a lot of reviews of the school, but they weren't very helpful in describing that.</p>
<p>Any tips or info from anyone who knows about the school/their English department will be greatly appreciated! Thanks</p>
<p>Ah. Then let me launch into my paternal lecture about not throwing in the towel. I strongly encourage not to think seriously about a transfer until Feb, midway through your second semester. Why? Because you cannot possibly have fully experienced your current school (DePaul, right) in only 3 weeks’ time. Please, PLEASE devote your energies towards making things work where you are. And the single greatest thing you can do to this end is involve yourself in something. This is not just something I recommend as one father among millions. I learned it the hard way 30 years ago, that’s true, but I have also heard it said again and again at the registration and orientation sessions at both my kids’ schools (Iowa and Kent State). Every time you join something you instantly have 20 new friends, and friends are the key to being happy on campus. If you are merely attending class and hanging out in the dorm, you are really stacking the deck against yourself. If you are introverted it’s not easy, but you have to do it. I told my daughter, who just started: for the first two weeks say Hi to EVERYONE and say yes to EVERYTHING. This is a crucial time to get comfortable. People who extend themselves to you will not try more than once or twice before writing you off.</p>
<p>Please know that you and a couple million other first-year kids are feeling totally out of their comfort zone right now, regardless of whether their school is a good fit or not. It’s simply too early to know. The transition from home to college is probably the most traumatic you will make. It’s important that you give it time and take big steps to adjust and get happy.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your advice and concern, and I have been trying to keep an open mind. I’ve said yes to many opportunities, and I’ve tried being amiable with everyone I’ve encountered. The thing is that my best friend also goes here, and I didn’t really admit it before, but her coming here was a major factor into why I accepted. Now, I’m starting to see that this college is better suited for her than it is for me. I have made friends, and I love my room mates, but it’s obvious that my interests are vastly different from those around me – I just don’t really fit in. Of course I’m not considering transferring until next year, and I haven’t exactly said yes to it either, I just want to keep it in mind since I know that Iowa probably has a better English department, which interests me greatly right now because I don’t feel very challenged or inspired in my current classes. I’m going to give it some time, I would just like to know some information about Iowa now just in case I do decide to transfer. While it seems nice right now, I’m still torn on whether or not it’s the right thing for me. If you have any information, let me know.</p>
<p>OK. I applaud your efforts to make it work. These things are survival skills that you will need anywhere, and even if they don’t give you the results you hope for at your current school you will need them at the next one, and your summer job, and your first job, etc.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely you’ll get credible information about the quality of Iowa’s undergrad writing program on this forum, although the question has come up several times. I think it’s a dangerous leap to assume or hope that because the graduate program is great that this trickles down to undergrad, although it probably does in some areas. The reality is that a graduate program is much smaller, with a more defined culture and higher level of faculty involvement, than you will find in undergrad, which is bound to be much larger. Now that is just an educated guess. To make an intelligent comparison you really would have to meet with an assistant dean in the program and grind through the nitty gritty.</p>
<p>As for Honors at Iowa, the director is new and I believe the program has changed since my son entered in 2010 (he’s no longer in honors). At that time it was extremely inclusive and flexible, built on the idea that good students will seek their own challenges rather than on the elitist rules and nonsense of other honors programs. I do not know if that’s still the case. I can assure you that if you visit the honors program you will have no problem getting a one-hour one-on-one meeting with one of their advisors who will tell you more than you want to know.</p>
<p>With respect to challenge, I encourage you to remember that it’s a bit early to make judgments about this wherever you are. The simple fact of first year at college is that they’re pushing a whole lot of bodies through a limited number of core required classes, and it’s not likely to be the scintilating intellectual experience you were hoping for. My son really didn’t find his class environments to be intimate and engaging until spring of his sophomore year. He now feels very at home in the engineering school, knows many students and faculty and has become involved in numerous things. But it didn’t happen first year.</p>
<p>This has helped me a lot too! I am considering transferring to Iowa too, not because classes, but because my school really lacks events or social interactions. I will give it another semester but I think I made a mistake not going to Iowa.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to hijack your thread oneaprilday, the only problem with transferring would be I would do it 2nd year, and i heard most students live off campus with their friends.</p>
<p>Ieatkids, about half of second year students live in residence halls. As a transfer I highly recommend it as it’s your single best way to make new friends. Even if an apartment option is available to you I’d pass on it and go with the dorms instead, just from the social aspect.</p>
<p>Da Beastman probably has a better line on this subject than I do because he still has a student at Iowa (I think?), while mine graduated three years ago, and was pre-med to boot.</p>
<p>However, I graduated with a BA from the Iowa Journalism school many moons ago, and at that time had a pretty good perspective on the interaction between the English Department, Journalism Department (on an undergrad level), and the grad school Writer’s Workshop. At that time, there were plenty of grad students enrolled in the WW that taught or T.A.'d in the English department. They weren’t much older than us, and as aspiring writers we would go out for beers with them and pump them for info as to what it was like to be in this esteemed department. And…there was virtually no Journalism/WW interaction–if anything, there was a healthy disdain on both sides. :)</p>
<p>Just my .02. Like Beast says, stick it out into next semester for sure. Iowa’s a great place to spend a few years, a great college atmosphere, but DePaul is maybe a bit more like real life.</p>